Mediocre Test Scores, Good Applicant?

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey CC,</p>

<p>I was wondering, I got my ACT scores back, and it is ... mediocre. Nothing like 9 bad, but nothing like 35 superb. I got a 29 on a test, 30 superscored, so it puts me at the lower range of the schools I'm looking at. </p>

<p>I have no intention to retake these tests again because I have had enough with the ACT Organization and giving them my money! hehe. </p>

<p>How should I best supplement my application to schools (I'm thinking Ivy, Ivy Plus wise) to help make up for these scores? </p>

<p>And no Trolls please to say "no chance" because I know there is always a chance. Me and my optimism ...</p>

2

<p>Well, your course of study, grades and ECs are very good. You’ll have to knock the schools’ socks off with your essays. I hope you realize those schools will still be reaches - for you or for anyone based on the admission rates.</p>

3

<p>Frankly, if you’re too lazy to retake the ACT or try the SAT, forget ivies plus. Without a real hook a 29 won’t get you in.</p>

<p>There is always a chance only when you’re willing to really work for it on every front.</p>

4

<p>I wouldn’t say “lazy” but I should take it again? </p>

<p>Could there be an elaboration on “every front” or is that just ECs, grades and what not?</p>

5

<p>suck it up and retake, honestly.</p>

6

<p>Ivies and other top colleges accept different kinds of kids for different reasons. They accept those with great academics, those who are great athletes and kids who have done well in spite of big obstacles. What these groups have in common is a never say die, work hard attitude.</p>

<p>If you want to believe there’s always a chance and your essay will close the deal, there’s a minute chance you could be right. But if strangers on College Confidential need to tell you to retake a 29 if you have ivy hopes, chances are the rest of the package isn’t there and your teachers and counselor will not be checking the boxes that say ‘best in my career.’</p>

<p>If that’s the case choose some realistic schools.</p>

7

<p>Not wanting to retake the ACT has nothing to do with laziness. Taking standardized tests is taxing, expensive, and consumes a lot of time from concentrating on other things. Some people cannot afford to take these tests over and over again until they get higher scores, especially when they have a score that already lies in the 96th percentile.</p>

<p>In any case, most of the people on this thread are wrong anyway. A 30 (your superscore) falls in the middle 50% score range at Penn, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, and Yale, and is only one point short of the middle 50% at Harvard, Princeton, and MIT. (Even a 29 falls into the middle 50% score range at some of the above-mentioned schools.) I find that people on College Confidential have unrealistic expectations of what the average high schooler scores on the ACT and what a “good score” is. Only 4% of students in the nation who take the ACT get a composite 30, and only 6% get a composite 29. In other words, a 29-30 is a very good score.</p>

<p>OP, I think that if you have excellent grades, great extracurricular activities, solid recommendation letters and an excellent essay you have decent chances at an Ivy League school. Of course, you should also apply to some match and safety schools – Ivies are reaches for anyone.</p>

<p>To more specifically answer your question:</p>

<p>-Start working on your admission essays as soon as possible – over the summer is a fine time to start! Have trusted friends, teachers, and perhaps your parents look over them. The essay is one of the few things that you can control at this point in the process, so control away and make sure that your essay is fantastic.</p>

<p>-Make a list of the teachers who like you the best, know you the best, and are the likeliest to give you strong recommendations. Bonus if any of your teachers are alumni of the schools you’d like to attend. Ask them at least 4-6 weeks in advance if they can write you a strong, solid letter of recommendation highlighting your strengths in their subject area. (Try one English, one math/science, and the third can be whoever you want.)</p>

<p>-If you do something special – like you’re a world-class equestrian or you played for state honor band for three years or something – consider a fourth recommendation from a teacher who can speak to those talents.</p>

<p>-Spend some time arranging your application. Most of them come out over the summer; you can log in when you have nothing to do (before the hectic senior year starts) and fill out those demographics. Consider the best way to present and summarize your ECs.</p>

<p>-Keep your grades up.</p>

8

<p>Most Ivy schools are not focused on those test scores alone. It takes much more in the total package. Go to the website (I know both Brown and UPenn have this) and look at the averages of the different scores that are accepted. Reality hits home. As much as they all say scores don’t count, they absolutely do. I was a 30 (not superscored) and rejected outright ED by Brown when the majority of ED applicants are deferred. Also, I did not find too many schools that will superscore the ACT as they don’t feel it compares to the SAT straight across the board. Yes, a 29 is a good score but the pool of applicants make this a tough one. You must have some sort of hook to pull through. Here is a sample of your competition: A good friend was rejected from Harvard and Yale with a 35 ACT 4.0/4.56 GPA/National Merit/Valedictorian and a hook…so who knows. Just have a good balance of schools overall to choose from.</p>

9

<p>nbg127: do you know for a fact that you were rejected because of your ACT score? Also, you were not a 30. You had a score of 30. (I find it a little bit creepy when people define themselves as their scores – “I was a 2200,” “I was a perfect 36”, etc.)</p>

<p>Obviously some people (a lot of people, actually) get in with a 30, because a 30 falls in the middle 50% of ACT scores at nearly all the Ivy Leagues.</p>

<p>Yes, ACT scores count. But I think it’s ridiculous to suggest that a score that is clearly, solidly in the average of the pool of applicants (and is consistently so) will somehow keep this applicant out, unless he or she is very mediocre in other areas, of which I have no indication.</p>

10

<p>Remember that those averages include MANY hooked applicants, who can get by with lower scores.</p>

<p>For an unhooked applicant, you probably do need 32+.</p>

<p>I’d say give the SAT a go. Some people do much better on it than the SAT (me).</p>

11

<p>^^concur. For unhooked applicants, a 32 is probably the minimum. And with that, you should apply ED. Note, only Cornell (supposedly) superscores, and that’s in its contract colleges (not sure about Arts & Sciences). The other Ivies do not superscore the ACT; few colleges do.</p>

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<p>Better think again. A 29 is below the mean, way below. 75% of Dartmouth’s matriculants had a 34; only 25% had a 29. (Brown is similar.) Yes, that is ~250 kids, but where do you think the hooked applicants are? If you read the Dartmouth press, close to half of the acceptees are Val or Sal.</p>

<p>The OP is interested in engineering, so that will also require a 700+ Math subject test score. A sub-30 ACT math score is just too low for top engineering programs.</p>

<p>IMO, without a hook, the OP is wasting his/her money to apply to the Ivies.</p>

12

<p>I’m not trying to be mean, but I think you have virtually no chance at an Ivy unless there are aspects to you that you’ve not mentioned. </p>

<p>I scored 30 on the ACT (in the mid-50% range of every school I applied to) and have been active in my ECs for 4 years in nearly all of them.
My GPA is 3.59, which stinks overall until you see that the first two years I was sick with cancer twice and depression, and out of school getting treatment in Houston (5 hours from home.) Missed a ton of instruction!! Junior and senior years have seen my GPA hover near a 4.0, but the overall is still a measly 3.59. During the past 4 years I worked at a part-time job at an AMC movie theatre and devoted many hours to my community service project, which is gathering pop tabs to take to the Houston Ronald McDonald House where I stayed during treatments. Active in other cancer-related community service projects too.</p>

<p>Somehow, I naively hoped that adcoms would see my application and think, “There’s a kid who has overcome adversity of the worst kind: terminal illness. Imagine how hard it was to try to study when getting chemo. Look at what she did with her grades once she didn’t have to worry about dying before high school graduation. Yeah, her scores are on the low side of our middle 50%, but that would happen to almost anyone who endured similar circumstances and missed so much school. What the heck, let’s give this kid a chance.” Didn’t happen. </p>

<p>Naively, I applied to schools that I adored. I visited many colleges last summer on our way home from my sister’s graduation from Dartmouth. I applied with my heart more than my head. I was admitted to only 2 of the schools I visited and adored…Washington and Lee (with NO financial aid for all 4 years) and University of Connecticut. I’m waitlisted at Bucknell and am trying hard to keep my hopes realistic. </p>

<p>Now, if you are a stellar athlete who can honestly get recruited, or a URM, you might have a chance. If your family can afford to pay full price you might have a chance (provided you’re waitlisted first.) And remember that Ivy League and other super-hard-to-get-into colleges also expect you to score HIGH on the SAT IIs…usually 3 of them. </p>

<p>If you’re not a VERY special case, which you don’t appear to be right now, you honestly should consider lowering your expectations somewhat. It hurts to be rejected (trust me) when you have your heart set on attending a college. After my experience with adcoms at some Ivies and other super schools, they want top scores, top grades, and top everything else. You can go ahead and apply, but I’d suggest you look for other schools where you will have a greater chance of getting admitted. Realistically, it doesn’t look like you have a chance at this point using the limited information you provided.</p>

13

<p>Obviously a mix of comments, </p>

<p>I appreciate the input by everybody. </p>

<p>I have had experience where people have had gotten okay test scores and been able to get into Harvard and Yale and were not considered URM. It all varies what colleges say. So, it depends. I’m strongly considering my state university because of financial issues in my family and I decided not to disclose too much about myself because I don’t need anybody to attack me on my “extracurricular” list or anything else that I do so I chose not to disclose that. </p>

<p>Thank you CC’ers for your input on my question.</p>